I came to Save the Elephants (STE) as a national intern with a mind that all the elephants are the same; little did I know that all of them are given names under several families just as we human beings. How could this even be possible?? After several times of going to the field for LTM (Long Term Monitoring) I could now confidently understand how. Just as we human beings are identified by our distinct fingerprints, elephants too can easily be distinguished from one another using their ear patterns and their tusks. All have unique ear patterns that easily distinguish them from one another. I got to know that elephants around Samburu National Reserve and its surroundings are classified into three groups by the STE research team. These are the Sporadics, the Migrants, and the Residents.
Sporadics are those elephants that can go for a long period of time, say even for three years then show up again in the reserve. Migrants are those that keep moving in and out of the reserve but usually for a short time while residents are those that are always found in the reserve.
I got a chance to participate in the collaring of Nutmeg, a female in the Spice Girls family and a bull named Boru. It was such a wonderful experience; infact, one that I had never thought possible.
I enjoy every moment I wake up and find myself in this prodigious research camp knowing the activities of the day that await me. I must say they are interesting exertion that keep me going and help in expounding my knowledge on wildlife, especially elephants and other mammals found in the reserve and its environs through the activity of mammal census that is occasionally carried out. I also enjoy helping Jenna – an international intern – with elephant poop collection (though at first times I found it tiresome sitting in the car waiting for an elephant to defecate) for her study. During this time I usually get a nice view of the elephants and observe their interesting behaviour. They are just fascinating and spellbinding to look at!!!!!!! I never get enough of them
Collaring Nutmeg from the Spice Girls